The State Election Commission (SEC) has affirmed that Local body elections for the state of Tamil Nadu will be conducted before May 15th, 2017.
Local body elections which were supposedly to be conducted on October 17th and 19th, 2016 were postponed after DMK petitioned to the Madras High Court (HC) citing non adherence of reservation policy rules by SEC.
Directions were also issued to the SEC to issue fresh notifications and complete the election process by 31st December, 2016. In this connection, the division bench of High Court sought for explanation from the SEC for their prolonged delay in announcing the election date.
Responding to this, SEC today has stated they would conduct the local body elections by May 15th, as March and April months are packed with board examinations (10th and 12th). Teachers and other educational officials who will be deployed at booths and counting centres will be busy with inspection at examination centres and paper correction works hence it would be cumbersome to conduct in April, SEC clarified.